Back in Canada

Sherry and I might have tempted fate in the same way a group of friends tempt fate playing back-to-back games of Trivial Pursuit (that second game never is as good as the first). By this I mean we decided to travel back to Ottawa this summer. A one-night stay there here in 2013 convinced us to come up here for nearly a week this year.

It took until the end of our first day for us to figure out why we made this call. I think Sherry and I both thought We came back for this? for much of yesterday. Three neat things made us realize why we came back.

The Canadian War Museum featured a really good display for World War I (as well as Canada's other conflicts). A great museum, but not without its faults . . . more in another post on that.

Rideau Hall is the residence of the Governor-General of Canada. This is a quaint (and free!) stop in Ottawa.

Light show at Parliament. Only drawback was the 10pm starting time. 

In hindsight, Monday saw us entering town a bit more fatigued than we realized we were and disoriented as to how to get around in the town. I do use the word town deliberately. It doesn't have nearly the scale of Washington, DC. Actually, it feels more like Richmond than DC. Also, it took us about 24 hours to figure out the merits and shortcomings of the home in which we're staying. So, we're there.

But this is a strange town. It was a civic holiday yesterday. That's correct, a civic holiday. Doesn't correspond with any Christian, Buddhist, Druid, etc. faith. It's just a day off. The town was truly dead, which struck me as unusual because when there's a long weekend in DC, there are people in DC. A ticketing snafu at the War Museum reminded me of the culture of inter-provincial red tape (had I been unethical, I could've gotten a refund of the 50 CAD I paid to visit the museums after having enjoyed the museum). Beer is good . . Mill St. Original Organic Lager is here and I can't get it in the states. But even buying it by the case is expensive. A two-four of it costs nearly 50 CAD! But, a trip to the public indoor swimming pool (a very good pool by the way) cost 5.70 CAD. I had to ask her to repeat the admission price . . . I was expecting 5 bucks a person! And the mall near Parliament: nearly everything was closed along the three-mile mall known as Sparks Street.

I find it funny how relatively cheap travel in a capital can be. Last year Montreal surprised me in how expensive it was to do nearly anything. But, as is the case in DC, great stuff is available for free or cheap. Rideau Hall and the light show were both free . . . even the parking.

As for other items, things are feeling normal. Each kid has gotten in trouble one time. We've gone through the sticker shock of buying groceries in a Canadian city. We've shared hypotheses on what our cat is doing right now.

As the result of a transgression earlier in the day, Sam could have only half of this donut. The picture captures him contemplating which half to select. 

As I said . . . some reservations about the Canadian War Museum. 

I love this photo of my son.